December i, 192 i] 



NATURE 



427 



plication should be avoided. With this policy of 

 concentration I am in the fullest agreement, but 

 I think it will be generally admitted by all who 

 know that the literature of the subject with which 

 I am dealing is of a very highly specialised char- 

 acter ; that it is, of course, more largely biological 

 than chemical ; and that many of the most im- 

 portant volumes and some even of the periodical 

 journals are not, as a matter of fact, readily ob- 

 tainable in any of our existing libraries. The 

 general demand for certain works dealing with 

 micro-biology is too small, and the books them- 

 selves are, perhaps, too costly and too highly 

 specialised to appeal to the majority of the 

 members of the library committees of our 

 scientific societies. 



Finally (and this would probably not be one of 

 the least important of its functions) the proposed 

 institute would serve as a central home for 

 British micro-biological science and as the in- 

 stitute to which all workers in this field of natural 

 knowledge, in every part of our Dominions, could 

 apply for information, to which they could send 

 rare specimens for identification or for investiga- 

 tion, and to which they could — subject to proper 

 safeguards in the matter of priority — communicate 

 any discovery of importance. 



The subject, in its botanical aspects, is not one 

 with which I can claim anything more than a 

 very limited acquaintance, but I have some reason 

 to believe that in our Colonies and overseas 

 Dominions there are mycologists who would ex- 

 perience the advantage of such an institution, and 

 who, while obtaining information themselves, 

 might render great national service by con- 

 tributing to our knowledge of the nature of many 

 fungoid plant-diseases. 



I am well aware of the admirable work in the 

 domain of industrial micro-biology which is being 

 done in a number of isolated institutions in this 

 country, as well as in one or two well-known 

 American colleges, in the Pasteur Institute in 

 Paris, in the Institute for Fermentation Industries 

 in Berlin, in the Carlsberg Laboratory in Copen- 

 hagen, and elsewhere. Each of these institutions, 

 however, deals with this immense subject in cer- 

 tain of its aspects only, and, as compared with 

 the scheme which I am advocating, they suffer 

 from the great disadvantage that there is no co- 

 ordination, and that, consequently, a combined 

 attack on any of the big problems which are call- 

 ing for solution is rendered very difficult, if not 

 impossible. Among such problems I might inr 

 stance the biochemical conversion of cellulose into 

 NO 2718, VOL. 108] 



fermentable sugar, from which industrial alcohol 

 might be prepared on one hand, or synthetic foods 

 on the other. 



A few years before the outbreak of war the 

 formation of a national institution somewhat on 

 the lines I have suggested in this article was 

 advocated by Paul Lindner, of the Institute for 

 Fermentation Industries in Berlin. It need 

 scarcely be said that the institute Lindner advo- 

 cated would have had its home in Germany, and 

 I feel strongly that it behoves us in this country 

 to take steps to establish, on British soil, an 

 institution which, although primarily intended to 

 meet the needs of British workers, might ulti- 

 mately receive the support of many of our 

 American and Continental colleagues. 



I know that one of the greatest difficulties, 

 especially at the present time, in connection 

 with the scheme will be that of obtaining 

 sufficient money for the purpose. It seems to 

 me, however, that a beginning might be made in 

 a very modest manner. A large and expensive 

 building would not, in the first instance, be 

 necessary or even desirable, for in a matter of 

 this kind much more would depend upon the selec- 

 tion of the right men than upon the size of the 

 building or even upon the perfection of its equip- 

 ment. Possibly some existing building, preferably 

 in proximity to one of our university colleges, 

 would be available. A very important point, 

 however, is that it should be a separate national 

 institute, and not a mere department of some 

 existing teaching institution. 



A. Chastox Chapman. 



Currents of Mathematical Thought. 



L'Ideal Scientifique des Mathematiciens : Dans 

 VAntiquite et dans les Temps Modernes. By 

 Prof. Pierre Boutroux. (Nouvelle Collection 

 scientifique.) Pp. 274. (Paris : Fdix Alcan, 

 1920.) 8 francs net. 



THE aim of this work has been carefully 

 explained by the author, and the reader 

 must continually bear that fact in mind. The 

 book is not a history of mathematics; it is not an 

 account of striking discoveries, or a criticism of 

 mathematical methods, as such. It is an attempt, 

 in the light of our present knowledge, to trace the 

 principal currents of thought by which profes- 

 sional mathematicians during different periods 

 have been consciously or unconsciously influenced. 

 No hard-and-fast boundary lines have been laid 

 down ; it is merely for the sake of convenience 



